'You want to skip steps but you can't.'

Kentucky head coach John Calipari celebrates after an NCAA Midwest Regional final college basketball tournament game against Michigan Sunday, March 30, 2014, in Indianapolis. Kentucky won 75-72 to advance to the Final Four. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
The Associated Press

Kentucky head coach John Calipari celebrates after an NCAA Midwest Regional final college basketball tournament game against Michigan Sunday, March 30, 2014, in Indianapolis. Kentucky won 75-72 to advance to the Final Four. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie cuts the netting on the rim after his team defeating Michigan State 60-54 during a regional final at the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)The Associated Press

Connecticut head coach Kevin Ollie cuts the netting on the rim after his team defeating Michigan State 60-54 during a regional final at the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 30, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo instructs his team in the first half of a regional final against Connecticut at the NCAA college basketball tournament on Sunday, March 30, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)The Associated Press

Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo instructs his team in the first half of a regional final against Connecticut at the NCAA college basketball tournament on Sunday, March 30, 2014, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Welcome back to BracketRacket, the one-stop shopping place for all your offbeat NCAA tournament needs. In today's edition, coach Cal keeps going back to the future, Florida beats Dayton (again!) in some kind of parallel universe, UConn wins but loses face, and tourists enjoy a rare moment of consensus in New York. Without further ado:

WE DON'T REBUILD AT KENTUCKY, WE ... ACTUALLY, WE DO REBUILD. EVERY YEAR.

If "The John Calipari Finishing School for NBA Prospects — Sponsored by the University of Kentucky(TM)" sent out a newsletter to high-school recruits, the latest might read something like this.

"This year's class is having a slam-bang time at the NCAA tournament. We're going to the Final Four — again! — and preparations are already underway for a reunion at this summer's NBA draft. But enough about this year's team, since many of them won't be around by the time you arrive in the fall. Can't wait to see you in Lexington!"

Say what you want about coach Cal, but the man has nerves of steel. Around this time last year, the Wildcats' season ended with a loss to Robert Morris in the opening round of the NIT and worse, the cupboard was practically bare. Nerlens Noel, Kentucky's best player went down during the season with a devastating knee injury, and was already rehabbing to go pro.

So Calipari simply did what he's always done: start over.

He recruited circles around every other coach in the game, bringing in six McDonald's All-Americans and trying to coach 'em up fast enough to deliver a happy meal by tournament time. There were chills and spills along the way, but after Kentucky held on to beat Michigan in the Midwest regional final Sunday, Calipari took a brief, but well-deserved bow.

"The whole thing about building a team, especially young guys, is it's a process and you cannot skip steps. You want to skip steps," he said emphatically, "but you can't."

You can building a program, though.

Take nothing away from Calipari's in-season work, but it pales in comparison to his abilities as a talent scout. In his four previous seasons at Kentucky, he's already put 17 players in the NBA, with another handful set to join them this June. He's the only coach to send three No. 1 overall picks to the pros, the only coach to have five players taken in the first round in the same year (2010), and the only one to squeeze six in since the league cut the draft to two rounds.

And he's showing no signs of slowing down.

Plenty of Kentucky fans took a break Saturday between the Wildcats' wins in the tournament to take in the Indiana High School Class 4A boys basketball state championship game. The kid to watch turned out to be Indianapolis Arsenal Tech's 6-foot-10 Trey Lyles, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds to lock up a state title.

Lyles is already committed to Kentucky, which if nothing else means coach Cal saved himself some postage.